“If He carried the weight of the world on his shoulders; brothers and sisters, I know He will carry you.” Scott Wesley Brown
A few weeks ago, I started looking at shoulders. Shoulders, you say? Yes, shoulders. I started looking at the shoulders of our government leaders and I thought about the weight they were carrying on them. They are tasked with promoting the general welfare of the citizens under their authority. This must have been a staggering time for them while dealing with the Covid19 Crisis.
I especially think of one governor I saw on television last week. His state has lost the most people to this disease and he looked shell-shocked. I thought of the sleepless nights he must have spent worrying about those under his care. This disease has left a lot of people at the top feeling helpless in many ways. After all, how do you fight a disease that you don’t yet have a viable treatment for? I also thought about some of the mayors in this country; some of their cities have a greater population than a lot of our states.
There’s not much we can do to help them other than to pray for them. Scripture encourages us to pray for “all in authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence.” All, you might ask if you are a political partisan? Yes all, regardless of political affiliation. But you don’t know who is in charge of our state, you might say to me. That’s right, I don’t. However, the Bible is clear on this issue, “All” apparently means all.
Before you rush to take another pill for your hypertension, think about it this way. Everyone (all) in authority needs wisdom, strength and divine guidance. At the time this was written, Romans were under the authority of their Emperors. Some of the Emperors were notoriously cruel, unjust, believed they were divine, and held the power of life and death over their citizens. There was a lot to disagree with the way they governed but believers were instructed to pray for them nonetheless.
The next time we see one of our government leaders on television, let’s take a closer look at their shoulders and see if we can discern the weight they are carrying on them. May it stir compassion inside of us so that we are motivated to pray for them. Maybe, just maybe, our prayers will help lighten their load a bit.
Scripture Reference: 1 Timothy 2: 2. Image courtesy of Pixels.